Teachers learn how to teach about climate change
Credit: (Hannah Gross/NJ Spotlight News)Just days after the school year ended for many public-school students, about two dozen K-12 teachers walked into a classroom at Ramapo College to learn about climate change. Some were science teachers eager to go deeper. Others taught different subjects and wanted to learn how to answer questions from students about what’s causing extreme heat and natural disasters.
New Jersey is the first state to require climate change to be taught across disciplines in public schools, including in world languages, health and physical education, and visual and performing arts. But many teachers do not have a firm background in science, which can make it harder to come up with lessons and explain complex ideas to students.
The Department of Education created Regional Climate Change Learning Collaboratives throughout the state to be part of the solution by providing public schools with free professional development and hands-on learning opportunities for teachers. The collaboratives are run by Ramapo College, Rutgers University – New Brunswick, Monmouth University and Stockton University. Programming is designed to make teachers of all subjects comfortable teaching about climate change after the state adopted the new standards. The grant, now in its second year, will run through March 31.
Think locally
Robin Knutelsky, an adjunct professor at Ramapo College and a former English teacher and curriculum director, hosted a session titled “Exceeding Standards: Climate Change in Your Communities” to help educators create lesson plans related to climate change in their own towns and cities.
Credit: (Hannah Gross/NJ Spotlight News)“It’s really important that our students see themselves in the work, which is why climate change within your local communities is so essential, so that students can see, ‘How can I make a difference?’,” Knutelsky said.
Teachers used a tool called NJ MAP from Rowan University to learn more about the climate where their school districts are located. They looked at different maps to see land and water areas in need of protection, allowing them to generate local examples to use with their students.
In health classes, the maps could be used to start a discussion about how individuals and community organizations can work together to address health problems. To meet a social studies standard, teachers could have students use the maps to describe how human activity has impacted the physical environment during different periods in New Jersey.
Why teachers sign up
The teachers who attended the session on standards teach a wide variety of subjects, mostly to elementary and middle school students. They signed up to learn how to incorporate climate change into the different subjects they typically teach.
Ruth Illescas, a fourth-grade math and science teacher in Prospect Park School District, said her students are curious about climate change and ask questions about climate change events, such as extreme heat at the end of the school year and recent wildfires in California.
“I want the kids to become more engaged and to learn about climate change,” Illescas said. “It’s a serious issue, and I figured if I go and get them more hands-on, I think they’d be more excited about it.”
Shannon Stewart, who teaches third- and fourth-grade students at Unity Charter School in Morristown, attended previous Climate Change Learning Collaborative sessions and wanted to return. Unity Charter School has focused on sustainability and taught climate change across subjects since it opened nearly 30 years ago.
Rebecca Kinsella, a fourth- and fifth-grade teacher of English as a second language in Dunellen, said she wanted to learn more about climate change since students in her district are often pulled out of science class for English instruction. Fifth-grade students are tested on science, and Kinsella wants her students to have “a fair chance to show what they know” despite missing out on science lessons, she said.
Credit: (Hannah Gross/NJ Spotlight News)The public-school teachers who attended each got $200 stipends and access to materials and resources they can use in their own classrooms.
“I want these elementary teachers to go back invigorated and then start to teach science at a very deep level across multiple disciplines,” said Adam Fried, assistant dean of teacher education at Ramapo College.
More than 1,000 teachers attended professional development events at Ramapo in the first year of the grant. Some school district leaders also attended and later told Fried there was a need for this type of professional development, he said.
Educators walk away from the sessions feeling like they can teach science even if they don’t have a science background, Fried said.
Knutelsky’s session on standards is one of many being offered this year. Other programs bring teachers to the Great Swamp, the New Jersey School of Conservation and the Meadowlands Environment Center where they will learn about climate change’s impact on weather, health, wildlife and more. Ramapo is also hosting sessions on water quality, climate justice and offshore wind power and whales at the Jersey Shore.
Telling stories
At the end of June, Knutelsky focused on the updated learning standards that incorporate climate change across different subject matters. She previously worked at the New Jersey Department of Education and helped revise standards for English language arts.
In the morning, Knutelsky led an activity that explored climate change through storytelling.
“What does storytelling have to do with teaching science?” she asked.
Teachers said it helps students see they belong and evokes emotions that data and graphs don’t.
“Storytelling is a human emotion,” Knutelsky said. “Students can see themselves within the context of their greater world.”
The teachers then divided into small groups to write their own stories about climate change using a list of words related to the climate. They used a writing strategy called RAFT, picking from a list of options for R – Role of the writer, A – Audience, F – Format and T – Topic.
Stewart, Illescas and Umme Habiba, a high school science teacher at Passaic County Technical-Vocational Schools in Wayne, wrote about the emotional toll of a climate disaster from the perspective of a child in 2100 in a social media post directed to nature itself.
Credit: (Hannah Gross/NJ Spotlight News)The activity can be customized by narrowing the topics or formats to fit different grades and subjects, Knutelsky said. If students are working on a specific writing format in English language arts, they can write in that style. If they are learning about certain topics in social studies, the list of topics to choose from can be narrowed to relate to what students are currently learning.
After writing their own stories, the teachers read the children’s book “We Are Water Protectors” by Carole Lindstrom, which is where the list of words came from. Teachers said writing their own stories before reading the book allowed them to be more creative.
Kinsella, who teaches in Dunellen, said she has used the book before while teaching in Puerto Rico, and now plans to use it again in a different way with her students. All the teachers got to bring a copy of the book home with them for their classrooms.
Planning lessons
After a break for lunch, the teachers worked on developing their own lesson plans based on a specific state learning standard for the grade and subject they teach. Knutelsky told the teachers to think about ideas for addressing a single standard multiple times throughout the year, allowing students to build on their knowledge.
“I want you to have something that you leave today with that you can use or reuse or come back to in September,” Knutelsky said. “That’s our goal.”
As an example, Knutelsky asked teachers to think how they would address a middle school computer science standard which says students should be able to compare the environmental effects of two alternative technologies designed to address climate change and decide which one is best, using data about the technologies.
Addressing the standard requires knowledge of English language arts, math, data visualization, science and social studies, she said.
One teacher said this could mean having students research alternative technologies at the beginning of the school year. Then, they could assess the pros and cons of different technologies before completing a larger project at the end of the school year.
At the end of the day, the teachers reflected on what they learned using a deck of cards with different images on them.
Illescas picked a photo of blocks and said she now has so much to build on.
Habiba picked an umbrella, and said she realized climate change is not just for science class since different subjects belong under one umbrella.
“You are not alone,” Knutelsky said before wrapping up. “There are tons of resources out there.”